The Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and The New York Academy of Sciences announced today the Laureates of the prestigious 2025 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel.  This year’s Laureates, who will each receive US$100,000, are:

Yonatan Stelzer, PhD (Life Sciences) – Weizmann Institute of Science – Recognized for breakthroughs in modeling the intricate process of mammalian embryonic development and for advancing our understanding of epigenetics, holding significant promise for regenerative and therapeutic medicine.

 

Benjamin Palmer, PhD (Chemical Sciences) – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – Recognized for pioneering research on how organisms create crystals, revealing the biological processes underlying their formation and the unique ways they interact with light, leading to the emerging field of organic biomineralization and inspiring sustainable optical materials.

 

Chaim Garfinkel, PhD (Physical Sciences & Engineering) – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Recognized for advancing our ability to predict climate change on timescales from months to decades, improving weather forecast systems and providing critical insights for climate policy and adaptation strategies.

Researchers from GRENBA-IGTP have identified the HDAC11 protein, an enzyme involved in cellular regulation, as a new therapeutic target to combat sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass associated with ageing. The study shows that HDAC11 deficiency reduces muscle atrophy, preserves the muscle stem cell reservoir, promotes regeneration after injury and improves muscle function, opening the door to new strategies to support healthy ageing.

- Mass spectrometer identifies pathogens directly in tissue and stool samples

- So far 232 medically important bacterial species detectable

- Database must now be further expanded

Speed and reliability are crucial in the diagnosis of diseases. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Imperial College London have developed a new method to identify bacteria with unprecedented speed. This means that the waiting time can be reduced from several days to just a few minutes.

An intriguing editorial in the Psychedelics journal announces an expanded focus beyond traditional psychedelic compounds to include the full spectrum of consciousness-altering substances. Editor-in-Chief Dr. Julio Licinio frames this approach as part of humanity's ongoing quest to transcend our inherent incompleteness.

In a groundbreaking Genomic Press interview, Dr. Michael Wheeler of Harvard Medical School reveals how psychedelics like psilocybin can reverse stress-induced fear behaviors by modulating neuroimmune pathways. His recent Nature publication demonstrates that psychedelics reduce immune cell accumulation in brain meninges while simultaneously reducing fear behaviors, opening new therapeutic possibilities.